J/223. 


ADDRESS 
August  7t  1903 

W.M.  Hammond 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

ENDOWED  BY 

JOHN  SPRUNT  HILL 
CLASS  OF  1889 


Cp970.76 
H22a 


cAD  DRESS 


«^      «5^ 


Delivered    at    Wadesboro,    N.  C.f    before    the  Daughters  of  the 

Confederacy"  and  the  Confederate 

Veterans 


<j^        fSP 


On  the  7th  Day"  of  cAugust,  1903 


BY 

W.  cTVt  HAMMOND 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED    AT   WADESBORO,   N.  C 

Before  the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  the 
Confederate  Veterans, 

BY 

W.  M.  HAMMOND 

ON  THE  7th  OF  AUGUST,   1903 


"Living,  they  adventured  everything  for  right  and 
justice,  and  having  fulfilled  all  patriotic  lahors,  cast 
themselves  into  one  vast  gulf  of  slaughter. 

"Dying,  they  bequeathed  only  incomplete  aims  and 
unaccomplished  thoughts. 

"Being  dead,  they  still  speak  to  us  by  majesty  of 
memory  and  by  strength  of  example."— Ruskin. 


ATLANTA,  GA. 

FOOTK  &  DA  VIES  COMPANY 

Pbintebs  and  Bindees 

1903 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hil 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressdeliveredOO-hamm 


CAPT.  HAMMOND'S  SPEECH. 

Daughters   of   the   Confederacy,    Veterans   of  Anson,   Ladies 
and  Gentlemen: 

Could  inclination  rather  than  the  requirements  of  custom 
be  the  rule  of  my  conduct,  I  would  love  to  talk  to  you  to-day 
of  "peace  and  rest  and  quiet  things,"  to  call  about  me  some  half- 
score  of  these  "gray-haired  boys"  and  revisit  with  therm  the 
scenes  of  fifty  years  ago ;  the  clay-chinked  hut  close  by  the 
"cool-lipped  spring" — 

"The  humble  home  of  school  boy  life; 

The  rough-hewn  seats,  the  slab-floored  hall ; 
And  carved  with  man}'  a  truant  knife, 

Our  rude  initials  on  the  wall." 

And  amid  such  surroundings  transport  ourselves  on  "backward 
fancy"  to  the  dear  old  days  so  full  of  innocence  and  peace — 
that  "halcyon  time"  when  even  the  birds  of  the  air  did  "keep 
their  nests  in  peace,  and  the  Son  of  man  had  place — spacious, 
large  and  fair — whereon  to  lay  his  weary  head ;"  but  inexor- 
able custom  demands  that  I  deal  with  less  pleasing  things, 
and  so  I  must  tell  of  stress,  and  strife  and  bloody  toil. 

The  situation  is  indeed  an  exceptional  one.  Self-exiled 
from  the  home  of  my  boyhood  and  the  friends  of  my  youth  for 
more  than  the  life  of  a  generation ;  an  alien,  save  in  affection 
and  sympathy,  to  the  society  of  the  men  whose  fame  and  whose 
services  these  grave  observances  were  ordained  to  celebrate, 
I  find  myself  summoned  to  assist  my  surviving  comrades, 
and  the  men  and  women  of  a  later  generation,  in  the  pious 
work  of  renewing  ancient  friendships,  of  recalling  names  and 
associations  made  beautiful  and  dear  by  death,  and  of  reviving 
the  memory  of  transactions  grown  indistinct  amid  the  changes 
and  vicissitudes  of  thirty-seven  years :  it  would  indeed  be 
difficult  to  imagine  a  situation  more  suggestive  of  noble 
reflections,  or  one  involving  duties  more  delicate  and  embar- 
rassing. 


Essential  as  it  is  to  safety,  both  in  expression  and  conduct, 
even  truth  itself  can  not  always  seem  opportune  or  pleasing 
"in  the  telling;"  and  yet  innocence  and  virtue  scorn  to  have 
themselves  clothed  in  any  other  dialect — candor  is  always  the 
indispensable  ally  of  justice  and  surely  both  truth  and  justice 
are  due  to  the  dead ;  and  my  speech  to-day  must  deal  alike  with 
the  living  and  the  dead. 

How  feeble  and  inadequate  are  even  the  loftiest  resources 
of  intellect  and  eloquence  to  the  just  discussion  of  topics  that 
belong  to  such  an  occasion  as  this ! 

What  form  of  noble  utterance  can  compass  the  excellence  of 
woman's  unselfish  love,  or  equal  the  praise  of  such  as  die  for 
home  and  freedom  ! 

A  great  Athenian  orator,  more  than  three  thousand  years 
ago,  speaking  by  command  of  the  State  in  praise  of  his  country- 
men who  had  fallen  on  Thracian  plains  fighting  for  Grecian 
liberty,  confessed  the  feebleness  of  that  art  of  which  he  was 
himself  the  world's  consummate  master,  by  prefacing  the 
noblest  panegyric  that  ever  fell  from  mortal  lips,  with  a 
protest  against  the  custom  that  permitted  the  virtues  of  the 
dead  to  be  periled  in  the  speech  of  one  man,  there  to  find 
praise  or  blame  according  as  the  speaker  might  deliver  him- 
self well  or  ill. 

Instructed  by  such  an  example,  admonished  by  such  con- 
siderations, it  can  not  seem  strange  that  I  hesitated  for  some 
time  to  undertake  the  service  desired  at  my  hands ;  and  I 
frankly  confess,  that  had  not  the  summons  you  sent,  seemed 
to  me  to  have  in  it  as  much  of  the  authority  of  a  command  as 
of  the  grace  of  an  invitation,  the  duty  it  outlined  would  have 
been  shifted  to  shoulders  more  capable  and  worthy. 

Amiable  as  that  invitation  was,  both  in  purpose  and  in  ex- 
pression, it  had  to  me  a  significance  more  pleasing  and  persua- 
sive than  its  formal  terms  conveyed,  for  to  my  imagination  it 
seemed  less  a  courtesy  from  the  living,  than  a  call  to  duty 
from  the  dead — the  comrades  whom  "I  loved  long  since  and 
lost  awhile,"  and  whose  familiar  accents  were  calling  to  me 
across  the  waste  of  vanished  years,  bidding  me  stand  once 
more  in  the  presence  of  their  survivors  and  their  children, 
and  rehearse  with  them  the  story  of  their  splendid  deeds. 


Construing  your  message  thus,  I  gladly  put  aside  all  other 
considerations,  and  am  here  to  celebrate  with  you  the  glories 
of  Southern  prowess  and  Southern  achievement;  to  tell  how 
well  they  fought,  how  nobly  died — these  men  in  gray ! 

Pausing  only  to  express  my  contempt  for  the  disposition 
prevalent  in  certain  quarters  to  deprecate  the  discussion  of 
questions  that  found  rude  settlement  more  than  thirty-eight 
years  ago  as  impolitic  and  unprofitable,  I  proceed  to  enumerate 
the  causes  that  led  a  peace-loving  people  to  sever  the  political 
ties  that  for  nigh  a  century  had  bound  them  to  their  asso- 
ciates of  the  North,  and  to  seek  outside  the  Union  that  protec- 
tion, which  had  been  openly  and  insolently  denied  them  within 
it,  though  solemnly  and  expressly  guaranteed  in  that  constitu- 
tion, which  was  itself  the  very  bond  and  charter  of  the  Union, 

The  discussion  has  grown  easier  now,  and  more  likely  to 
lead  to  just  conclusions.  The  day  of  prudent  disguise  and 
hushed  submissiveness  ha9  passed,  and  we  of  the  South  have 
no  longer  either  occasion  or  motive  to  conceal  the  sentiments 
that  impelled  us  to  the  struggle ;  not  to  plead  the  dear  pi  erog- 
ative  of  grief,  in  apology  for  our  expressions  of  reverence 
for  the  cause,  and  of  admiration  for  the  men  who  consecrated 
it  with  their  lives. 

Peaceful  methods  have  long  prevailed  in  tbe  administration 
of  public  affairs ;  the  passions  incident  to  civil  strife  have 
ceased  to  stir  the  minds  of  reasonable  men ;  and  the  situation 
both  at  home  and  abroad  invites  to  that  judicial  calmness,  in- 
dispensable to  the  formation  of  just  judgments  touching  the 
transactions  of  former  times. 

Opinions  and  conduct,  that  were  lately  denounced  as  per- 
nicious and  treasonable,  are  beginning  to  be  everywhere  rec- 
ognized as  sincere  and  patriotic ;  and  men  may,  if  they  hon- 
estly try,  view  these  things  from  the  vantage  ground  of  truth 
and  justice. 

The  struggles  of  contending  armies,  the  thunder  of  artillery, 
the  shouting  of  the  captains,  the  fiery  wheeling  of  the  squad- 
rons no  more  excite  the  imaginations  or  disturb  the  judgments 
of  men,  and  we  can  look  down  upon  the  fierce  fluctuations  of 
victory  and  defeat  "from  a  tranquil  spot  on  the  far-off  heights, 
whence  all  the  scouring  legions  seem  as  if  they  stood  still,  and 


all  the  glancing  clash  and  confusion  of  battle,  as  though  it 
were  blended  in  one  sheet  of  steady  flame ;  and  thus,  after  time 
has  subdued  passion  and  quenched  resentment  do  all  shifting 
things  seem  nxed." 

This,  my  friends,  is  the  historian's  opportunity,  and  now 
public  opinion,  cleared  of  all  mists  of  passion  and  of  prejudice, 
may  assume  with' safety  the  judgment  seat.  And  I  would  deem 
myself  delinquent,  if  on  an  occasion  such  as  this,  or  on  any 
fit  occasion,  or  in  any  company,  I  should  fail  to  justify  the 
motives  that  42  years  ago  led  an  unoffending  people  to  hazard 
everything,  and  to  suffer  everything  in  defense  of  chartered 
right;  and  ^so  to  establish  if  I  can,  in  the  public  opinion  of  man- 
kind, the  justice  of  the  cause,  and  the  integrity  of  the  conduct 
of  the  men,  who,  with  infinite  sacrifice  and  unexampled  devo- 
tion, upheld  that  cause  through  four  bloody  years  and  against 
most  appalling  odds. 

Oh,  my  brothers,  there  is  consolation  here,  and  hope  for 
you  and  for  me !  Our  brothers,  our  friends,  with  all  our  mar- 
tyred ones,  must  never  leave  their  narrow  beds ;  but  it  is  only 
their  bruised  bodies  that  must  await  the  resurrection  morn. 
The  principles  for  which  they  fell  have  never  known  "defeat 
of  death,  nor  suffered  long  confinement  in  the  grave." 

Overborne  for  a  time,  outnumbered  and  forced  from  any 
field,  they  straightway  shift  the  forum,  and  through  infinite 
changes  of  procedure,  get  themselves  settled  somewhere,  and 
somehow  else,  it  may  be  on  the  field  of  fair  debate,  or  by  the 
unpurchasable  ballots  of  men  who  will  not  consent  to  be  the 
equals  and  associates  of  slaves. 

There  is  a  dogma  now  somewhat  prevalent,  which  holds  that 
in  estimating  the  quality  of  serious  efforts  to  change  the  social 
and  political  systems  of  nations,  the  historic  sense  can  take  no 
account  of  the  motives  and  purposes  that  actuated  those  by 
whom  the  change  was  attempted. 

"This  dogma,"  says  one  of  its  most  distinguished  propagan- 
dists, "forbids  posterity  to  judge  results  by  motive,  or  real 
consequences  by  the  ideals  and  intentions  of  the  actors  who 
produce  them."  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them"  is  the 
rule   for   decision,   whether  motives  or  results  be   in  question. 

The  true  rule,  the  just  rule,  would  seem  to  be  quite  othei- 

6 


wise,  and  in  subordination  to  the  "Divinity  that  shapes  our 
ends,  rough-hew  them  how  we  will,"  there  is  no  enlightened 
code  of  morals  or  of  law  that  rejects  motive  as  the  true 
standard  for  determining  the  quality  of  human  conduct. 

Guilt  or  innocence,  applause  or  censure,  are  in  their  right 
analysis  but  questions  of  intention.  Indeed  any  different  rule 
would  not  only  subvert  justice,  but  would  be  fatal  to  all  vir- 
tuous enterprise ;  and  the  long  catalogue  of  heroes  and  martyrs, 
whose  toils  and  sacrifices  have  lighted  the  pathway  of  human 
progress  through  all  the  ages,  would  stand  at  last  as  a 
gang  of  delinquents,  and  malefactors  in  the  eyes  of  mankind. 

It  is  true  that  the  motives  of  men  are  often  wiser  and  better 
than  their  conduct ;  it  is  also  true  that  as  the  interval  between 
great  events  and  the  time  for  estimating  the  motives  of  the 
actors  in  them  increases,  the  opinions  and  conduct  of  those 
actors  become  more  and  more  difficult  of  correct  ascertain- 
ment. 

This,  however,  only  emphasizes  the  duty  of  all  who  are 
interested  in  forming  the  judgments  of  history,  to  see  to  it 
that  the  public  opinion  of  mankind  be  neither  "misled  by  malice, 
nor  corrupted  by  clamor,  nor  debauched  by  falsehood ;"  and  to 
this  end,  the  friends  of  historic  truth  should  be  of  all  men  the 
most  vigilant, — ever  on  guard  against  the  incursions  of  error 
and  injustice.  On  no  other  condition  is  it  possible  to  secure 
just  estimates  of  motive,  apart  from  results;  and  so  it  falls  out 
that  if  the  motives  of  men  are  pure,  their  intentions  patriotic, 
and  their  conduct  courageous,  then  however  disastrous  the  re- 
sult may  be,  it  can  never  be  used  to  impeach  their  characters, 
nor  to  "tarnish  the  nobility  of  their  transactions." 

What  then  have  we,  the  associates  and  survivors  of  the  men 
of  '61,  to  allege  in  behalf  of  a  cause  for  whose  maintenance 
their  blood  was  shed,  their  valor  spent,  their  lives  and  hopes 
foreshortened  so? 

If  these  dead  men  died  not  innocent,  then  better  for  them, 
and  better  for  us  all,  that  they  and  their  transactions  be  left 
to  silence  and  eternal  sleep;  but  if  they  sincerely  strove  for 
right  and  justice,  then  justice  demands  for  them  the  language 
of  truth  and  boldness. 

Instructed  then  by  truth,  waiving  all  question  of  sectional 

7 


or  public  sensibility,  appealing  to  the  example  of  a  free  an- 
cestry, let  us  canvass  the  causes  that  hurried  an  unoffending 
people  into  the  turmoil  and  horrors  of  civil  war. 

No  one,  I  think,  even  moderately  familiar  with  the  course  of 
public  opinion  and  political  conduct  in  the  two  sections  during 
the  quarter  of  the  century  that  preceded  the  opening  of  hos- 
tilities, will  deny  that  throughout  that  entire  period,  the  con- 
duct of  the  Southern  people  was  marked  by  as  much  of  'con- 
ciliation and  forbearance  as  was  ever  exhibited  by  a  high- 
spirited  race  living  under  a  system  of  exact  political  equality, 
and  holding  under  express  constitutional  guarantees  the  ex- 
clusive control  of  all  their  domestic  and  internal  affairs. 

By  the  letter  of  the  constitution,  by  national  statute,  and  by 
comity  of  States,  rights,  whether  of  person  or  property,  exist- 
ing under  the  laws  of  Georgia  or  of  the  Carolinas,  were  en- 
titled to  full  recognition,  and  complete  protection,  under  the 
laws  of  Massachusetts,  and  of  every  other  State. 

This  was,  indeed,  the  very  bond  and  charter  of  the  Union; 
it  w;is  the  chief  end,  the  indispensable  condition  of  the  asso- 
ciation of  sovereign  States;  and  its  repudiation  by  any  State, 
or  its  denial  by  those  charged  with  administering  the  national 
government,  necessarily  involved  the  abrogation  of  this  es- 
sential principle,  on  whose  preservation  the  permanence  of 
the  Union  must  under  all  circumstances  depend. 

Now,  history  records  the  fact,  that '  the  withdrawl  of  this 
protection,  the  disregard  of  this  guarantee,  had  become  the 
settled  policy  of  fourteen  sovereign  States  of  the  North,  and 
the  creed  of  political  faith,  the  text  of  civic  instruction  for  an 
organized  and  aggressive  school  of  politicians  throughout  all 
the  States  of  that  section.  To  illustrate:  In  1832  a  single 
Southern  State,  exasperated  beyond  endurance  at  the  unjust 
tariff  exactions  of  the  Federal  Government  in  the  matter  of 
foreign  imports,  and  at  the  grossly  unequal  expenditure  of 
public  money,  sought  through  its  Legislature  to  annul  within 
its  borders  such  of  the  laws  for  the  collections  of  import  duties 
as  were  deemed  oppressive  and  unjust;  and  for  this  action 
the  State  referred  to,  incurred  the  condemnation  of  every 
other  State,  and  threats  of  coercive  intervention  by  the  powers 
of  the  National  Government. 


Between  1858  and  i860,  not  one,  but  14  States  of  the  North 
had  through  their  Legislatures,  and  in  open  defiance  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  of  Congress, 
and  of  the  solemn  judgment  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  enacted  what  they  denominated  "Personal  Liberty 
Bills,"  prohibiting  in  terms,  the  restoration  to  their  owners, 
of  any  slaves  escaping  into  their  jurisdictions. 

Under  these  sinister  influences,  and  in  the  year  i860,  the 
control  of  the  National  Legislature,  and  the  direction  of  the 
National  policy  passed  absolutely  into  the  hands  of  the  fierc- 
est advocates  of  this  new  and  pernicious  doctrine. 

The  chief  executive  office  of  the  Government,  and  the  great 
department  of  State,  having  been  assigned  respectively  to  the 
most  active  propagandist,  and  to  the  original  discoverer  of  the 
"Higher-Law"  heresy,  which,  as  its  name  implies,  was  the 
recognition  and  application  of  a  rule  of  constitutional  construc- 
tion, and  of  National  administration,  higher  than  the  Consti- 
tution itself,  and  more  binding  on  the  conscience ;  a  doctrine,  by 
the  way,  that  seems  to  have  survived  its  author  and  its  first 
exemplars,  and  is  to-day,  in  several  material  points,  the  in- 
spiration of  executive  conduct  and  the  rule  of  National  policy. 
The  familiar  maxim  that  "necessity  knows  no  law"  finds  its 
scope  mightily  enlarged,  and  now,  necessity  knows  nothing 
either  of  law  or  of  the  Constitution.  Witness  the  schemes  of 
foreign  conquest ;  the  enrollment  of  great  armies  for  subju- 
gating distant  and  unoffending  races ;  and  the  erection  of 
strange  jurisdictions  seven  thousand  miles  across  the  sea. 

There  were  indeed  other  and  very  flagrant  infractions  of 
constitutional  guarantees.  The  riotous  resistance  to  Govern- 
ment officers  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the  judgments 
of  the  Federal  courts ;  the  armed  invasion  of  the  soil  of 
Virginia ;  the  seizure  of  the  Government  arsenal  at  Harper's 
Ferty,  the  forcible  prevention  of  the  citizens  living  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  fromi  the  free  expression  of  their  wishes  in 
framing  their  plans  of  government,  were  all  sources  of  exas- 
peration and  estrangement ;  but  quickly  yielding  to  prudent 
counsels  and  conciliatory  treatment: 

It  was,  my  friends,  the  "higher  law"  doctrine ;  this  "God  and 
Morality"    business    that    furnished    the    pretext    for    armed 

9 


coercion,  and  deluged  the  land  with  the  blood  of  two  millions 
of  our  people.  Offenses  did  come.  What  history  and  eternal 
justice  demand  to  know  is,  by  whom  did  they  come?  Who 
piled  the  fagots  that  fed  the  flame  that  shriveled  up  the  goodly 
tree  of  national  concord?  What  felon  hand  made  the  first 
breach  in  the  wall  of  constitutional  restriction,  through  which 
rushed  the  black  tide  of  sectional  hate  and  civil  war? 

We  of  the  South  stand  ready  for  the  issue:  let  the  inquest 
proceed !  Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  defenders  of  civil  liberty 
are  not  only  held  to  sincerity  and  good  faith  in  their  profes- 
sions, but  are  also  responsible  for  the  wisdom  and  prudence 
of  the  measures  adopted  for  their  maintenance,  it  has  been 
objected  that  the  Southern  leaders  are  blameworthy  for  having 
resorted  to  a  remedy  that  was  manifestly  impossible  of  a  peace- 
ful application ;  and  this  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  secession 
had  no  warrant  in  the  'Constitution  and  was  without  precedent 
either  in  the  political  history  of  our  government  or  in  the 
opinions  of  the  great  authors  and  expounders  of  that  instru- 
ment. "We  should  have  known,"  say  our  traducers,  "that 
secession  meant  war  and  bloodshed,  and  that  we  as  a  people 
were  wholly  unprepared  to  assert  our  claims  under  that  form 
of  procedure."  This  criticism  has  two  infirmities.  In  the 
first  place,  the  premise  from  which  the  conclusion  is  sought  to 
be  drawn  is  utterly  and  palpably  false,  and  as  to  the  charge  of 
unwisdom  and  folly  in  the  attempt  to  assert  our  views  of  con- 
stitutional right  under  the  conditions  then  existing,  our  ac- 
cusers are  playing  the  very  safe  and  contemptible  role  of  pre- 
dicting results  after  their  accomplishment;  they  belong  to  "the 
belated  breed"  of  prophets  after  the  fact. 

It  is  true  that  the  Constitution  affords  no  express  authority 
for  the  withdrawal  of  a  State  from  the  Federal  Union ;  in  other 
words,  makes  no  provisions  for  the  destruction  of  a  political 
system  whose  creation  was  the  special  purpose  for  which 
that  Constitution  was  adopted.  And  so  the  Constitution  is 
equally  silent  on  the  subject  of  coercion  of  any  State,  or  of  any 
number  of  States,  by  the  military  power  of  the  other  States, 
or  by  the  Federal  Government ;  and  as  for  precedents,  they  are 
present  in  amazing  abundance ;  let  me  cite  a  few : 

Passing  by  the  debates  in  the  conventions  of  1778  and  1789, 

10 


in  which  not  a  doubt  was  ever  uttered  or  intimated  as  to  the 
perfect  right  of  any  State,  upon  sufficient  cause,  to  withdraw 
itself  from  the  Union,  I  come  down  to  a  later  period  when 
experience  and  discussion  had  formed  the  opinions  of  states- 
men and  publicists,  respecting  the  relations  of  the  States  to  the 
General  Government  and  to  one  another.  Of  these,  one  of 
the  greatest  (and  then  representing  the  commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts  in  the  National  Legislature),  in  the  debate  on 
the  bill  to  admit  Louisiana  as  a  State,  declared  that  "if  the  bill 
should  pass,  the  States  would  be  free  from  their  moral  obliga- 
tions ;  and  as  it  would  be  the  right  of  all,  so  it  would  be  the 
duty  of  some,  definitely  to  prepare  for  a  separation — amicably, 
if  they  could;  violently,  if  they  must."     This  as  early  as  1804. 

Again,  in  1814,  the  sovereign  States  of  New  York,  New 
Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,  through  their  representatives  in  the 
National  Congress,  solemnly  asserted  that  "separation  must 
come,"  and  that  when  it  did  come,  "it  would  be  welcomed  by 
all  the  States  named;  that  New  York  mjust  be  the  centre  of 
the  new  Confederacy,  and  the  others  would  gather  about  her 
under  the  ties  of  a  common  interest  and  a  better  sympathy." 

Coming  down  to  a  still  later  day,  John  Quincy  Adams,  the 
Federalist  par  excellence,  and  the  fairest  flower  of  New  Eng- 
land civilization,  declared  in  1839,  that  "nations  acknowledge 
no  judge  between  them  on  earth,  and  their  governments  must 
in  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  decide  when  the  failure 
of  one  pavtv  to  a  contract  absolves  the  other  from  the  re- 
ciprocal fulfillment  of  its  own  obligations. 

"With  these  qualifications,  we  may  admit  the  same  right  as 
vested  in  the  Federal  Government,  which  was  exercised  by  the 
people  of  the  united  colonies  with  reference  to  the  supreme 
head  of  the  British  Empire  of  which  they  formed  a  part ;  and 
under  these  limitations,  the  people  of  each  State  in  the  Union 
have  a  right  to  withdraw  therefrom." 

And  later  still,  New  England's  great  expounder  of  the  Con- 
stitution, speaking  to  Virginia  patriots  in  1851,  advised  them 
that  "if  the  South  should  violate  intentionally  and  systematic- 
ally any  part  of  the  Constitution,  then  the  States  of  the  North 


would  be  no  longer  bound  by  the  rest  of  it ;"  and  then  enquired 
"should  the  North  deliberately  and  of  fixed  purpose  disregard 
any  part  of  it,  would  the  South  be  any  longer  bound  to  observe 
its  remaining  obligations? 

"How  absurd  is  it,  when  different  parties  enter  into  a  com- 
pact for  certain  purposes  to  pretend  that  either  can  disregard 
and  disobey  one  provision,  and  nevertheless  expect  the  others 
to  observe  the  rest."  "I  repeat,"  said  he,  "if  the  Northern 
States  refuse  wilfully  and  deliberately  to  carry  into  effect  that 
part  of  the  Constitution  which  respects  the  restoration  of 
fugitive  slaves,  and  Congress  provides  no  remedy,  the  South 
would  be  no  longer  bound  to  observe  the  compact.  A  bargain 
can  not  be  broken  on  one  side,  and  still  bind  on  the  other.'' 

Could  language  be  more  explicit?  Could  opinion  be  more 
authoritative?  And  yet  what  Webster  said  in  '51  had  been 
even  more  strongly  affirmed  by  his  great  compatriot  more 
than  twelve  years  before :  "This  Constitution  does  not  at- 
tempt to  coerce  sovereign  States  in  their  political  capacity." 
And  side  by  side  with  this  must  be  set  the  memorable  words 
of  Alexander  Hamilton :  "To  coerce  the  States,"  said  he, 
"is  one  of  the  maddest  projects  that  ever  was  devised,  and 
even  though  wicked  men  might  wish  it,  can  we  believe  that 
any  State  will  ever  suffer  itself  to  be  used  as  an  instrument 
of  coercion  ?     The  thing  is  a  dream ;  it  is  impossible." 

I  would  be  derelict  in  my  duty  w:ere  I  to  omit  from  this 
statement  the  testimony  of  two  other  "expert  witnesses,"  having 
the  greatest  authority  and  credit  in  all  questions  of  Constitu- 
tional construction  and  interpretation. 

I  therefore  confront  our  critics  and  accusers,  first,  with  the 
deliberate  opinion  of  James  Madison,  as  set  out  in  number  43 
of  the  Federalist: 

"What  relation,"  asks  he,  "is  to  subsist  between  the  nine  or 
more  States  ratifying  the  Constitution ;  on  what  principle  can 
the  Confederation,  which  stands  in  the  solemn  form  of  a  com- 
pact between  the  States,  be  superseded  without  the  unanimous 
consent  of  the  parties  to  it?  A  compact  between  independent 
sovereigns,  founded  on  acts  of  legislative  authority,  can  pre- 
tend to  no  higher  validity  than  a  league  or  treaty  between  the 
parties.     It  is  an  established  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  treaties 


12 


that  all  the  articles  are  mutually  conditions  of  each  other; 
that  a  breach  of  any  one  article  is  a  breach  of  the  whole  treaty 
and  that  a  breach  committed  by  either  of  the  parties  absolves 
the  others,  and  authorizes  them,  if  they  please,  to  pronounce  the 
compact  violated  and  void. 

"Should  it  unhappily  be  necessary  to  appeal  to  these  deli- 
cate truths  for  a  justification  for  dispensing  with  the  consent 
of  particular  States  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Federal  pact,  will 
not  the  complaining  parties  find  it  a  difficult  task  to  answer  the 
multiplied  and  important  infractions  with  which  they  may  be 
confronted  ?" 

Speaking  without  the  least  suspicion  of  partiality  for  South- 
ern opinion,  or  for  the  views  of  Southern  leaders,  New  Eng- 
land's latest  historian  and  most  distinguished  publicist — Mr. 
Cabot  Lodge — declares :  "When  the  Constitution  was  adopted 
by  the  votes  of  States  at  Philadelphia,  and  accepted  by  the  votes 
of  States  in  popular  convention,  it  is  safe  to  say,  that  there 
was  not  a  man  in  the  country,  from]  Washington  and  Hamil- 
ton on  the  one  side,  to  George  'Clinton  and  George  Mason  on 
the  other,  who  regarded  the  new  system  as  anything  but  an 
experiment  entered  upon  by  the  States;  and  from  which  each 
and  every  State  had  the  right  peaceably  to  withdraw — a  right 
which  was  very  likely  to  be  exercised." 

And  so  I  might  occupy  your  time  indefinitely  with  citing 
opinions  and  multiplying  precedents  to  establish  the  propo- 
sition that  the  Southern  people  and  their  leaders  had  abundant 
warrant  for  the  conviction  that  the  course  pursued  by  them 
was  justified  both  on  grounds  of  undoubted  law  and  of  self- 
preservation,  and  for  the  further  belief  that  those  from  whom 
they  had  decided  to  separate  would  quietly  acquiesce  in  that 
proceeding.  They  are  therefore  safe  from  any  fair  imputation 
of  want  of  good  faith,  or  authority  in  adopting  the  remedy  re- 
sorted to.  They  had  "precept  upon  precept,"  and  precedents  in 
profusion. 

Standing  then  upon  the  very  letter  and  spirit  of  express 
charters ;  insisting  on  the  plain  terras  of  written  contracts ; 
willing  to  discharge  to  their  fullest  the  obligations  that  rested 
on  themselves ;  and  demanding  only  like  obedience  from  others 
who  stood  under  like  obligation  of  law  and  duty,  they  met  the 

r3 


threat  of  coercion  and  war  in  the  only  way  left  open  for  men 
who  loved  liberty  more  than  life,  and  feared  submission  worse 
than  death ;  and  appealing  to  the  example  of  ancestors  in 
whose  steps  they  did  not  fear  to  tread,  answered  back  the 
battle-cry  of  oppressor  and  of  Puritan,  and  "lighted  headland 
and  hilltop  with  the  beacon-fires  of  liberty." 

For  four  weary  years  the  fierce  tide  ebbed  and  flowed ;  four 
years  the  red  cross  waved,  and  then  went  down,  no  more  to 
stream  through  fields  of  bloo'd  and  battle  smoke;  and  bury- 
ing in  one  grave  our  aspirations  and  our  dead,  we  bowed  with 
composure  to  the  irresistible  decree  of  fate. 

I  therefore  affirm  that  the  claims  of  the  people  of  the  South 
were  right — right  in  themselves,  and  right  in  the  manner  of 
their  assertion;  lawful  in  fact  and  lawful  in  form. 

Having  set  out  the  causes  that  led  the  South  into  separation, 
resistance  and  open  war.  Having  told  why  they  fought, 
what  need  that  I,  or  any,  attempt  to  tell  you  how  they  fought? 
The  children  of  strangers  living  in  lands  remote,  can  tell  vou. 
how  well  they  fought — these  men  in  gray.  Wherever  devo- 
tion is  honored  and  valor  esteemed ;  where  rivers  roll,  or  moun- 
tains rise,  or  seas  expand,  the  story  of  their  noble  deeds  has 
flown,  and  lighted  our  Southern  annals  with  a  lustre  com- 
pared with  which  "all  Greek,  all  Roman,  fame  grows  pale." 

Verily,  it  is  an  amazing  record ;  hastily  levied  from  a  race 
whose  situation  and  pursuits  were  wholly  peaceful ;  knowing 
nothing  from  experience  of  the  discipline  of  camps,  or  the 
quality  of  subordination,  was  it  not  wonderful  how  for  four 
years  these  untrained  levies,  in  devotion,  in  discipline,  in  valor 
and  in  achievement,  equalled  the  renown  of  the  seasoned  bat- 
talions of  the  old  world ! 

Not  "the  tough  legionaries  who  trained  the  flight  of  Roman 
eagles  through  eastern  deserts  and  through  Scythian  snow;" 
not  Cromwell's  Ironsides,  nor  the  grim  Muscovites,  whom 
Suwarrow  taught  to  trust  nothing  but  the  bayonet;  not  the 
sturdy  Saxons  who  at  Oudenarde,  at  Ramilies,  at  Waterloo, 
and  Balaklava  made  British  valor  immortal ;  not  the  Old  Guard 
of  Napoleon,  so  willing  to  die  when  the  glory  of  France  de- 
manded; not  any,  nor  all  of  these,  can  rival  the  exploits  of 
those  "fresh-lipped  warriors,"  who  rallied  at  the  bugle  call  of 
Stuart,  and  were  marshalled  to  the  marriage  feast  of  death 
beneath  the  banners  of  Hampton,  of  Johnston,  of  Jackson 
and  of  Lee. 

H 


Physical  .courage,  contempt  of  danger  and  death  are  but 
current  military  virtues ;  subordination,  steadiness,  patience, 
but  the  customary  result  of  exarcise  and  discipline.  The  men 
who  fought  for  us,  exemplified  them  all ;  and  above  all,  and 
better  than  all,  they  added  moderation  and  tenderness  to  in- 
trepidity, and  crowned  their  valor  with  magnanimity. 

How  generous  and  tender  were  they  even  in  the  very  heat  and 
flush  of  victory;  how  true  to  all  the  kindlier  instincts  of  hu- 
manity !  Poor,  hunger-pinched  heroes  in  garb  of  modest 
gray,  best  hope  of  many  a  Southern  home ;  straining  with 
wounded  feet  through  mountain  paths  and  flinty  valleys,  faint- 
ing with  fatigue,  smitten  with  cold,  halting  with  sick- 
ness !  Was  your  warfare  indeed  but  the  outburst  of  wild 
enthusiasm  ?  Your  desperate  daring  but  "  the  insolent  valor  of 
unreflecting  impulse?"  Surely  it  could  not  have  been  the  pur- 
suit of  some  mere  abstraction ;  the  crusading  about  after  some 
fanciful  theory  of  human  right  or  human  freedom  that 
brought  you  to  such  evil  case ;  if  so,  then  your  equipment  and 
bearing  did  not  rightly  interpret  your  motive.  Why,  these  men 
even  paid,  or  tried  to  pay,  for  their  entertainment  with  such 
poor  token  of  value  as  a  bankrupt  exchequer  supplied,  and 
what  knight-errant  or  crusader  ever  did  the  like  of  that  ? 
And  then  how  happened  it  that  church  bells  rang  and  children 
played,  and  busy  reapers  strove,  and  plowmen  drove  their 
teams  aheld  in  sight  of  armed  thousands,  moving  at  harvest- 
tinie  through  Pennsylvania's  valleys  ?  Let  me  close  this  topic 
with  two  historic  instances:  (i  condense  from  Henderson's 
account.; 

On  the  30th  of  April,  1862,  McClellan,  with  115,000  effec- 
tive men  and  240  pieces  of  artillery,  confronted  the  army  of 
Northern  Virginia  under  Johnston,  near  Yorktown,  number- 
ing 80,000  men  of  all  arms  and  40  pieces  of  artillery.  York- 
town  fell;  the  Confederate  ironclad  Virginia  was  destroyed, 
and  Williamsburg  and  Seven  Pines  disclosed  the  necessity 
for  an  increase  in  the  army  of  defense.  Lee  was  placed  in 
command,  and  on  the  20th  of  June  found  himself  with  70,- 
000  effective  troops,  increased  a  short  time  after  by  the  ar- 
rival of  Jackson's  corps  from  the  Valley,  to  86,000  men. 

Four  general  engagements  followed,  and  on  the  3d  of  July, 
1862,  McClellan  was  seeking  safety  for  his  demoralized  army 
under  the  shelter  of  the  gunboats  on  the  James  River,  leaving 

15 


in  the  hands  of  his  weaker  adversary,  10,000  prisoners,  52 
pieces  of  artillery,  and  more  than  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
army  stores. 

On  the  24th  day  of  August  in  the  same  year,  Stonewall 
Jackson  crossed  the  Rappahannock  at  Hinson's  mill  with  23,- 
doo  men  and  36  pieces  of  artillery,  leaving  Lee  with  Longstreet 
a  three-days'  march  to  the  south,  and  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river;  just  six  days  later  Pope's  beaten  army  of  100,000  men 
and  140  guns  was  reeling  back  to  the  fortifications  at 
Alexandria. 

Within  a  period  of  just  three  weeks  Lee,  with  only  55,000 
effective  men  and  46  pieces  of  artillery,  had  shifted  the 
theatre  of  active  operations  from  the  James  River  to  the  Po- 
tomac; had  driven  80,000  men  into  the  fortifications  at  Wash- 
ington ;  captured  30  pieces  of  artillery,  seven  thousand  prison- 
ers, twenty  thousand  rifles  and  many  stands  of  colors;  had 
killed  and  wounded  thirteen  thousand  five  hundred  Federals 
and  destroyed  army  stores  worth  three  millions  of  dollars ;  and 
within  less  than  four  months,  two  great  armies  had  oeen  de- 
feated; McClellan  driven  out  of  the  peninsula;  and  Pope 
forced  back  to  the  fortifications  at  Washington. 

"The  campaign  had  been  opened  for  the  purpose,  and  with 
the  confident  hope,  of  capturing  the  Confederate  capital.  Be- 
fore the  leaves  began  to  fall  it  was  uncertain  whether  the 
truculent  invaders  would  be  able  to  retain  possession  of  their 
own  capital." 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  these  movements,  the  most 
competent  and  disinterested  historian  who  has  yet  written  on 
the  subject  declares  that  "in  the  instant  apprehension  and 
prompt  execution  of  such  movements  as  neutralize  inequality 
of  numbers  and  resources,  and  give  to  an  inferior  force  the 
supremacy  under  situations  the  most  difficult,  and  against  odds 
the  most  appalling — these  two  campaigns,  when  carefully 
studied  and  understood,  must  secure  for  Lee,  as  a  strategist 
and  master  of  military  combinations,  the  first  rank  in  the  cata- 
logue of  the  world's  great  commanders." 

I  am  not  here,  however,  to  celebrate  the  exploits  of  indi- 
vidual leaders,  nor  to  increase  the  fame  of  particular  cap- 
tains ;  that  indeed  would  be  quite  without  the  spirit  of  the  oc- 
casion, and  wholly  beside  the  purpose  of  those  who  designed 
it.     When  speaking  of  one,  I  mean  to  do  honor  to  all;  first 


and  foremost,  to  the  rank  and  file  of  our  Confederate  hosts. 
Let  me  then  be  as  impartial  in  my  praise  as  are  these  devoted 
women  in  their  love ;  let  captains  and  chiefs,  with  those  they 
led,  have  equal  honors  here. 

Holding  one  hope;  standing  in  one  trust;  martyrs  to  a  com- 
mon faith,  we  crown  them  with  a  common  love,  accord  them 
equal  fame.  In  place  of  splendid  monuments,  we  choose  to 
build  within  our  hearts  the  nobler  monuments  of  reverence 
and  gratitude  and  love;  and  keep  forever  there,  a  consecrated 
place  for  each  immortal  name :  Ranged  in  "the  wide  pantheon 
of  a  people's  love,"  our  Southern  heroes  stand,  a  shining  host, 
a  goodly  company;  nor  envy  we  the  blazoned  shafts  and  flat- 
tering epitaphs  and  lofty  monuments  that  mark  the  graves  of 
those  to  whom  fortune  awarded  supremacy  and  success — 

"For  them  the  sculptor's  laurelled  bust, 
The  builder's  marble  piles, 
The  anthems  pealing  o'er  their  dust 
Through  long  cathedral  aisles.  • 

"For  these,  the  blossom-sprinkled  turf, 
That  hides  their  lonely  graves, 
When  spring  rolls  in  her  sea-green  surf, 
In  flowery  foaming  waves." 

Breathe  but  a  single  warrior's  name,  and  lo !  "from:  out  the 
land  where  the  dim  nations  dwell"  a  thousand  knightly  forms 
to  glowing  life  uprising.  From  peaceful  vale  and  wooded 
height  and  mountain  pass  they  come  with  shout  and  sabre- 
clang  and  bugle  peal.  Stuart,  the  high-souled  Christian  cava- 
lier, true  as  the  steel  he  wore,  and  tender  like  a  woman,  "the 
flower  of  men,  the  rose  of  chivalry,"  riding  on  with  his  paladins 
to  death  and  endless  fame — Hampton,  Pegram,  Pelham,  Forrest 
and  all  who  with  them  rode. 

Before  quitting  the  matter  of  the  temper  in  which  the  war 
was  prosecuted  by  the  Southern  leaders  there  is  one  instance 
which,  without  the  least  taint  of  resentment  or  bitterness,  I  will 
present  for  your  consideration.  When  successful  invasion  had 
given  our  foremost  chieftain  temporary  control  of  the  territory 
of  a  neighboring  State,  and  when  he  held  its  soil  and  its  cities 
at  his  mercy,  how  happened  it  that  the  husbandman  pursued 
his  toil ;  and  children  played,  all  undisturbed,  while  marshalled 
thousands   in  close  array  marched  by,   leaving  the   land   un- 

i7 


ravaged  and  peaceful  as  before  they  came?  I  do  not  mention 
this  to  illustrate  the  magnanimity,  or  to  enhance  the  fame  of 
our  matchless  chieftain,- — that  he  suppressed  the  insolence  of 
success,  and  restrained  the  passion  of  an  army  inflamed  with 
the  memory  of  past  injuries,  and  with  the  expectation  of  future 
conflicts ;  but  only  to  remind  you  of  another  incident  in  military 
annals.  A  great  historian  relates  that  a  barbarian  king  of 
the  Visigoths  habitually  respected  the  temples  and  shrines  of 
subjugated  cities,  and  that  he  declined  to  give  battle  to  the 
Romans  on  Easter  Day ;  and  during  the  subsequent  sack  of 
the  imperial  city,  guarded  with  scrupulous  care  its  altars  and 
its  temples  from  profanation  and  destruction. 

It  will  remain)  for  some  future  historian  to  tell  how,  nearly 
fifteen  hundred  years  later,  and  at  the  very  noontide  of 
Christian  civilization  a  distinguished  military  chieftain, 
holding  commission  under  a  Christian  State,  and  leading  a 
veteran  and  victorious  army,  signalized  the  seizure  of  the 
unresisting'  capital  of  a  Christian  commonwealth  by  burning 
the  religious  house  and  consecrated  chapel  of  a  most  venerable 
order  of  Christain  women.  But  I  must  not,  with  retrospects 
like  these,  "call  the  old  bitterness  to  life  again,"  and  "break 
the  low  beginnings  of  content."  With  better  memories  and  by 
sweeter  methods  must  we  draw  from  this  tribute  of  faithful 
souls  grace  for  ourselves,  and  instruction  for  posterity. 

And  now,  seeing  that  our  discomfiture  was  complete  and 
irretrievable,  we  comforted  ourselves  with  the  reflection  that 
fortune  had  for  us  done  its  worst ;  and  viewing  with  indiffer- 
ence and  contempt  the  antics  of  those  tardy  warriors  who 
proudly  vaunted  themselves  in  sight  of  exhausted  munitions 
and  disbanded  armies,  we  addressed  ourselves  to  the  task  of 
erecting  again  the  fabric  of  social  order  and  material  pros- 
perity; but  this  hope  was  doomed  to'  disappointment;  and  the 
blackest  page  in  the  long  history  of  oppression  and  wrong  was 
about  to  be  unfolded,  for  then  came  reconstruction,  with  its 
unspeakable  horrors,  its  infamous  defiance  of  every  principle 
of  humanity  in  administration  and  of  decency  in  conduct:  but 
I  must  not  dwell  upon  this  topic.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  what- 
ever malice  could  suggest,  or  official  cruelty  contrive,  or  official 
brutality  inflict,  was  visited  upon  a  brave  but  submissive  people. 

Ignorance  in  the  judgment  seat,  corruption  in  the  council 
chamber,  rapacity  at  the  receipt  of  customs,  stupidity  and 
fraud  at  the  ballot-box,  barbarism  and  brutality  everywhere — 

18 


the  entire  South  one  writhing,  seething  mass  of  rapine,   de- 
bauchery and  lust. 

"Not  thirty  tyrants  then  enforced  our  chain, 
But  every  rogue  did  lord  it  o'er  the  land." 

And  yet  through  all  this  horrible  orgy,  and  though  treated 
as  bandits  and  outlaws,  the  men  of  the  South  deported  them- 
selves as  patriots.  They  submitted  with  patience  to  facts  that 
had  been  accomplished  without  their  approval ;  they  had  taken 
an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution ;  and  they  were  resolved  to 
keep  it ;  and  so1,  seeing  there  was  for  them  neither  pity  in 
their  conquerors,  nor  justice  in  their  rulers,  they  submitted  with 
sublime  fortitude  to  horrors  whose  recital  even  now  arouses 
universal  indignation. 

They  promoted  ignorance  over  learning,  and  set  brutality 
and  lust  to  keep  rule  over  innocence  and  virtue.  They  wrote 
negro  suffrage  and  negro  equality  with  bayonets  in  the  code 
of  every  Southern  State.  They  ravished  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion and  wrote  it  there.  They  laid  interdict  after  interdict 
on  white  supremacy  and  white  control.  As  well  might  they 
have  laid  an  interdict  "on  seas  and  worlds  to  chain  them  in 
from  wandering." 

About  this  time,  there  arose  in  the  region  round  about  the 
Capital  City  of  Georgia  a  Prophet  with  a  message  like  this : 
''If  the  negro  ever  gets  a  permanent  right  to  vote  in  this 
country,  it  must  be  by  the  consent  of  the  people  who  live  here," 
and  that  prophecy  has  at  last  found  fulfillment. 

Where  are  your  14th  and  15th  amendments  to-day?  There 
were  others,  too,  anointed  leaders  and  guides,  men  accredited 
by  perfect  intrepidity  and  transcendent  wisdom  to  pilot  a  de- 
spairing people  along  the  lines  of  prudent  self-restraint  and 
patient  submission  back  into  the  sunlight  of  a  new  civilization 
and  a  restored  prosperity. 

One  such  was  vouchsafed  to  the  oppressed  people  of  North 
Carolina ;  and  standing  not  long  since  in  presence  of  the 
bronze  effigy  of  your  transcendent  patriot,  recalling  his  life  of 
noble  aims  and  lofty  self-denial,  its  moulded  lines  seemed  in- 
significant and  small,  and  I  here  predict  that  the  time  will 
come  when  gratitude  for  rights  redeemed  and  honor  saved 
will  claim  yet  larger  recognition  for  him  who,  when  other 
hearts  did  quake  and  fail,  stood  firm  and  four-square  to  every 
wind  that  blew. 


Well  may  the  sons  of  North  Carolina  revere  the  memory 
of  this  man,  who,  like  William  the  Silent,  "went  through  life 
bearing  the  load  of  a  people's  sorrow  upon  his"  shoulders  with 
a  smiling  face.  The  people  were  grateful  and  affectionate ; 
for  they  trusted  the  character  of  Zebulon  Vance ;  and  not  all 
the  clouds  that  calumny  could  collect  ever  dimmed  to  their  eyes 
the  radiance  of  that  lofty  spirit  to  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed in  their  darkest  calamities  to  look  for  light." 

"While  he  lived  he  was  the  guiding  star  of  a  whole  brave 
people,  and  when  he  died  the  little  children  cried  about  the 
street." 

And  now  it  only  remains  for  me  to  discuss  briefly  what  will 
doubtless  seem  to  you  the  most  satisfactory  topic  connected 
with  the  day's  observances — I  mean  the  part  that  North  Caro- 
lina played  in  that  mighty  struggle  for  the  integrity  of  State 
sovereignty  and  the  preservation  of  Southern  rights. 

The  last  but  one  of  the  original  thirteen  to  give  formal 
assent  to  the  compact  of  1789,  and  to  pledge  her  fealty  to  "The 
more  perfect  union  then  to  be  ushered  in,  North  Carolina,  in 
the  same  spirit  of  conservatism,  and  of  loyalty  to  vows  once 
taken  that  has  characterized  the  conduct  of  her  people  at 
every  stage  of  her  history,  deliberated  long  and  anxiously  be- 
fore taking  the  step  that  was  to  separate  her  from  those  to 
whom  she  had  been  so  long  associated  by  the  ties  of  a  common 
lineage,  of  mutual  sympathy,  and  by  the  memory  of  toils  and 
sacrifices  jointly  endured. 

To  Her,  the  severing  of  these  ancient  ties,  and  the  relin- 
quishment of  all  participation  in  a  system  of  government  es- 
tablished largely  by  the  wisdom,  and  defended  and  perfected 
by  the  toils  and  sacrifices  of  her  sons,  seemed  an  alternative 
at  which  resolution  might  well  hesitate,  and  patriotism  shud- 
der. But  after  remonstrance  and  entreaty  had  alike  proved 
unavailing,  and  seeing  only  dishonor  and  shame  in  longer  ad- 
herence to  a  system  already  "defrauded  of  its  high  design," 
and  through  the  wicked  industry  of  malcontents  and  traitors, 
about  to  become  an  instrument  for  the  impairment  of  her  sov- 
ereignty and  the  oppression  of  her  people,  she,  on  the  20th  day 
of  May,  1861,  bade  her  unfaithful  associates  a  solemn  and  for- 
mal farewell,  and  made  instant  alliance  with  her  sister  common- 
wealths of  the  South.  And  right  here  I  touch  upon  a  topic 
the  mere  mention  of  which  will  forever  thrill  the  souls  of 
North    Carolinans   with   pride,    and    stimulate   patriots   every- 


where  with  its  record  of  devoted  heroism  and  superb  self- 
denial. 

Of  all  the  sacrificial  offerings  with  which  the  people  of  the 
South  piled  high  the  altars  of  Southern  liberty  in  that  su- 
preme struggle  for  independence,  those  of  North  Carolina 
were  incomparably  the  largest  and  most  valuable. 

They  were  indeed  incalculable  in  value ;  incredible  in  volume, 
and  splendid  beyond  the  power  of  language  to  express. 

With  an  aggregate  white  population  in  April,  1861,  of  less 
than  650,000,  and  with  a  voting  population  of  not  quite  115,- 
000,  with  all  her  ports  of  entry  closely  blockaded  throughout 
the  struggle,  she  contributed  more  than  128,000  well  equipped 
fighting  men  to  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States,  of 
whom  32,000  came  not  back  again. 

She  organized  and  equipped  73  regiments  of  infantry,  8 
regiments  of  cavalry,  3  regiments  of  artillery,  and  at  least 
9  battalions  of  mixed  troops. 

She  had  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  December, 
1863,  59  full  regiments  of  infantry,  5  of  cavalry  and  3  of  ar- 
tillery. 

Of  officers  of  the  rank  of  major-general  she  furnished  7,  of 
whom  3  were  killed  in  battle.  Of  26  commissioned  as  briga- 
diers (and  with  three  exceptions  for  distinguished  services 
in  battle),  6  were  killed  and  only  3  escaped  without  wounds. 

The  losses  sustained  by  North  Carolina  troops  in  battle  ex- 
ceeded the  combined  loss  of  any  two  States  of  the  South. 
Of  the  Southern  soldiers  found  dead  on  the  fatal  field  of 
Gettysburg,  25  per  cent,  wore  the  uniform  of  the  Old  North 
State. 

The  two  brigades  of  Pettigrew  and  Daniel,  with  a  single 
North  Carolina  regiment  then  brigaded  with  Davis'  Mis- 
sissipians,  lost  more  than  double  the  number  that  fell  in  Pick- 
ett's historic  charge. 

At  Sharpsburg  the  Third  North  Carolina  regiment,  in  less 
than  one  hour  and  thirty  minutes,  lost  330  men  out  of  a  total 
of  520;  and  on  the  same  historic  field  a  single  company  of  the 
Fourteenth  North  Carolina  regiment — never  to  be  named  in 
the  presence  of  an  Anson  county  audience  save  with  uncovered 
head  and  reverend  heart — lost  in  killed  and  wounded  every  man 
of  the  45  who  entered  the  line  of  battle  on  the  morning  of  that 
day.    And  the  same  company,  out  of  43  men  who  were  on  the 


firing  line  at  Gettysburg,  reported  but  a  single  one  as  having 
escaped  without  wounds. 

Out  of  87  who  illustrated  at  Gettysburg  the  heroism  of 
Anson  county's  patriots,  and  who  had  already  m:ade  immortal 
Company  K  of  the  26th  regiment,  not  a  single  man  escaped 
unwounded. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  contributions  that  North  Carolina's 
devotion  made  to  the  cause  of  Southern  independence ;  for  I 
am  able  to  state  from  authentic  records,  and  as  a  fact  within 
the  knowledge  of  men  in  this  audience,  that  she  furnished 
through  the  military  department  of  the  State  government  to 
the  Confederate  authorities  at  Richmond,  quartermaster,  com- 
missary and  ordnance  stores  of  the  value  of  more  than  $26,- 
000,000 ;  and  for  at  least  six  months  next  preceding  the  close 
of  hostilities,  she  was  feeding  out  of  her  own  stores,  one-half 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

She  put  more  men  in  the  field  in  proportion  to  her  white 
population  than  were  furnished  to  either  army  by  any  other 
single  State,  North  or  South. 

The  muster  rolls  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  show 
that  she  had  under  General  Lee  in  December,  '63,  more  and 
better  equipped  troops  than  then  stood  on  the  combined  muster 
rolls  of  troops  from  any  two  other  States  of  the  Confederacy. 

This  statement  would  savor  both  of  incompleteness  and  of 
injustice  should  it  fail  to  remind  you  of  patriotic  contributions 
of  another  sort,  and  from  another  source  to  the  good  cause  of 
Southern  liberty ;  and  which  were  never  listed  in  the  account 
of  commissary  or  quartermaster ;  nor  were  set  out  in  official 
reports  of  any  sort.  Inestimable  in  value,  and  precious 
alike  in  themselves  and  in  the  source  from  which  they  pro- 
ceeded, they  flowed  in  a  steady  stream  to  camp  and  hospital, 
varying  in  amount  according  to  the  increased  or  diminished 
ability  of  the  givers. 

It  was  affection's  tithing ;  it  was  love's  sweet  usury  that  thus 
nobly  supplemented  the  scanty  resources  of  a  failing  ex- 
chequer, and  replenished  the  empty  army-chests  of  Jackson, 
and  Johnson,  and  Stuart,  and  Lee.  It  was  the  patient  toil, 
the  superb  self-denial,  of  the  Spartan  Mothers  of  the  South, 
that  in  the  course  of  a  single  winter  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
struggling  armies  around  Richmond  food  and  clothing  of  the 
value  of  more  than  $400,000. 

22 


Ah,  my  friends,  it  was  not  through  military  skill,  nor  yet 
alone  by  marshalled  thousands,  nor  amid  the  thunder  of  the 
guns,  nor  the  fury  of  the  onset,  that  the  hardest  battles  of  the 
South  were  fought  and  won.  It  was  a  warfare  without  pomp 
or  circumstance.  "No  gathering  troup,  no  bivouac-song,  no 
banners  to  gleam  and  to  wave,"  and  to  stiffen  the  sinews,  and 
stimulate  the  soul  to  deeds  of  heroism.  It  was  a  long  warfare 
waged  in  silence,  and  in  the  solitude  of  women's  hearts;  and 
in  sight  of  empty  chairs  and  widowed  homes. 

The  service,  though  long  and  difficult,  had  neither  pay, 
promotion,  nor  emblem  of  distinction  for  those  who  entered 
it.  Its  rosters  were  unwritten,  but  its  files  were  full.  It  was 
an  army  of  volunteers ;  its  movements  were  silent,  but  steady 
and  effective,  and  its  veiled  banners  told  the  inspiration  of 
the  service. 

"Along  its  ranks  no  sabres  shine, 
Xo  blood-red  pennons  wave : 
Its  banners  bear  a  single  line, 
'Our  business  is  to  save.'  " 

I  know  not  how  others  may  feel  about  this  matter,  but  for 
myself  I  hold  it  for  shame  that  the  men  of  the  South  have  de- 
layed so  long  in  attesting  by  fit  and  enduring  memorials  their 
gratitude  for  the  matchless  heroism,  the  unselfish  devotion,  and 
the  patriotic  labors  of  these  Cornelias  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury. Let  the  business  be  no  longer  postponed;  let  the 
recognition  be  as  large  and  generous  as  the  love  that  so  nobly 
earned  it. 

I  would  like  above  all  things  to  speak  with  more  particu- 
larity and  detail  of  the  characters  and  achievements  of  the  men 
of  Anson,  who,  on  more  than  a  hundred  stricken  fields,  il- 
lustrated the  valor  and  virtues  of  your  historic  county;  to  tell 
the  story  of  each  martyred  hero's  splendid  deeds,  and  glorious 
death — 

"To  muster  once  more  our  deathless  dead 
Out  of  each  grass-grown  grave." 

Alford,  and  Beverly,  the  Bennetts,  the  Boggans,  the  Bow- 
mans,  and  Briley,  and  Haley,  the  Littles,  the  Mortons,  and 
Threadgills,  and  Watkins  (who  has  the  peculiar  distinction 
of  being  the  only  man  found  dead  on  the  battlefield  with  his 
discharge  in  his  pocket). 

23 


But  the  just  limits  of  a  discourse  such  as  this  forbid  me  to 
pursue  the  topic  further. 

Asleep  on  honor's  lofty  bed !  There  let  them  lie  until  the 
resurrection  morn  shall  rouse  them  from  their  slumbers.  No 
change  of  fortune,  no  rise  or  fall  of  States ;  nor  "poison, 
malice  domestic,  nor  foreign  levy,  can  touch  them  further." 

And  now,  my  comrades,  the  service  you  desired  at  my 
hands  has  been  rendered — feebly,  I  know — yet  right  lovingly 
and  with  a  heart  overflowing  with  affectionate  aspirations 
for  the  welfare  of  you  all.  May  your  lives  be  crowned  with 
peace,  and  all  your  labors  with  prosperity.  Our  meetings  and 
greetings  will  have  few  repetitions  in  the  years  that  are  to 
come.  Your  foremost  files  have  already  passed  beyond  the 
horizon  of  earthly  things,  and  entered  the  mysterious  realm 
"of  silence  and  of  shadows"  whose  confines  you  and  I  are 
fast  approaching. 

We  can  almost  hear  floating  in  through  the  deepening 
shadows  of  life's  evening  the  notes  of  the  bugles,  sounding  the 
rally  at  "The  River." 

May  the  crossing  be  happy  and  peaceful  for  us  all,  and  may 
we  have  joyful  reunion  and  perpetual  fellowship  with  cap- 
tains and  comrades  who  have  passed  through  martyrdom  to 
endless  repose  beneath  "The  shade  of  the  trees  that  grow  by 
the  waters  of  the  River  of  Life." 

Nor  will  other  companionships  fail  to  find  happy  renewal 
there.  That  army  of  faithful  allies  whose  loving  care  and 
gentle  ministrations  so  often  sustained  and  consoled  you  in  the 
dark  night  of  disappointment  and  defeat  is  advancing  its 
milk-white  standards  to  plant  them  beside  your  own ;  and  then 
at  last  will  these  true-hearted  ones  have  just  precedence  of 
place  and  honor,  tor — 

"While  valor's  haughty  champions  wait 
Till  all  their  scars  be  shown, 
Love  walks  unchallenged  through  the  gate, 
And  sits  beside  the  throne." 


-4 


m 


',■■  ■■':'-.  : 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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00032758301 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
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